Johnny was born Johnathan Michael Changretta in 1984 to his father Carlo and mother Catherine in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a 'tax collector' for the various mob-run casinos in Las Vegas. Johnny grew up with his brother Michael in ignorance of what their father was doing. Carlo would leave on Fridays, and return every Monday with stacks of cash. No one questioned it, and Johnny was raised thinking the magical stacks of cash were normal.
As a child, Johnny was a mischievous kid, but a smart one at that. Constantly finding himself fitting in better with older age groups than his own. His mother would always tell him that he was "too smart for his own good". As Johnny grew, he began asking more questions but got few answers. His father always told him he was a tax man and left it at that. On parent days at school, Johnny had little to show for what his father did, all anyone knew was that his father's car was worth more than their house. At 16 Johnny started a job as a freight driver for a local company. But quickly grew tired of watching his father and his buddies come home from work with more in a week than Johnny made in a year.

By 19, Johnny had found himself a crew of like-minded individuals, all straining at their leash to make their first bit of **real** money. They snuck into the Bellagio Casino, using an ID johnny stole from his father, and made their way to a blackjack game in one of the VIP rooms. They all donned masks, Johnny drew a 1911, and they began taking the pot from the table. As the pot was being emptied, a shot rang out from the corner of the room, and Johnny's best friend at the time, Richie "Slick Rick" Valentino, crumpled to the ground. The bartender stood there with a smoking .38 special for a few seconds before Johnny shot him once in the chest.

Hearing the gunshots, a flood of mobsters and security from the floor came rushing in, including his father. Johnny was separated from his other crew member and was sat at a table with his father. His father admired his bravery, and knowing that his son could shoot straight, and being a Caporegime, offered him a spot as a soldier in his crew on one condition. After asking what it was, he was ushered into a room where his friend lay beaten half to death in a chair and was handed his 1911. Johnny left that room as a new member of the Gambino crime family, but his friend never left at all. That day, he gained his first nickname, .45, as the mobsters stood surprised that the bartender fell in one shot to the torso, Johnny chimed in with “It’s a .fuckin' 45, the round's fatter than ya motha.” From then on, he climbed the ranks of the family and gained his second nickname when being made by John Gotti, Knockers (shortened to Knocks), due to him being prone to knock someone out when losing his temper.

Just before Johnny was about to be given his own crew as a Caporegime, John and Junior Gotti were arrested; a massive blow to the Gambino family. Johnny saw this as the beginning of the end of the Gambinos’ glory days and left the family. Seeing the rise in freight shipments passing through Kansas City, he began his own crew, with the help of his Uncle Nic, to rob truck shipments. They were making a killing and had drivers and managers paid off to keep the merchandise moving through like clockwork. They did this for a while, but other families, including the Gambinos, saw the money in truck robberies. Within a year, there would be crews robbing other crews who would rob trucks, the industry had too many players, so Johnny and Nic cashed out. Then, moved to a land near untouched by the charm and flair of a few loud paisans, San Andreas.

Nowadays, Johnny finds himself reverted to the ambitious, opportunity-seeking self he once was. He's searching for new ways he can avoid the working man's life he's been running from for the better part of his life. Him, along with Uncle Nic and his cousin Chrissy, see themselves as men of ambition, and men of tradition. They hold family closer than everything but are constantly on the lookout for their next gig.

"Don't judge a book by its cover."
"What are you? Stupid, slow, or suicidal?"
"At the end of the day, you ain't ever gonna see a U-Haul following a Hearse."
"Your honor is all you've got when you're on the wrong end of a gun."
"Spending time with my family's all that matters."